The following page contains a new and expanded definition of meta-religion and meta-spirituality. This new definition both includes and transcends earlier traditional definitions of meta-religion and meta-spirituality.

It is intended for advanced students of Religion 2.0 and advanced theology students from Religion 1.5 and Religion 1.0 organizations. There are many paradoxes in a meta-religion and meta-spirituality as you will soon discover.

What is Meta-Religion and Meta-Spirituality of Religion 2.0:

A meta-religion or meta-spirituality by its very definition and nature must at least be approaching near universality in its usefulness and applicability. This near universality in its usefulness and applicability is created by a combination of factors such as being:

1.) aligned with the principles of open source meta-religion, (Open source meta-religion principles when applied and adapted to Religion 2.0 are an absolute structurally must. Without these basic "operating system" rules and principles any meta-religion and meta-spirituality would be continually dragged into or down to denominational differences, conflicts or claims. Without the open source meta-religion principles it would be impossible to create ANY trans-denomination meta-religion. It would also be difficult to transsend yet include the best of the Interfaith movement. (Click the preceding open source meta-religion link for the definition and essential structural principles of open source meta-religion.)

2.) secular only to the degree that meta-religion and meta-spirituality is first, primarily and always grounded, balanced and aligned with the objective facts of science to additionally enhance its universality and common qualities such as is found in the common universe genesis story based on factual science that we all share.

A meta-religion and meta-spirituality also provides a set of common and universal principles or codes of ethics for living --- once again based on our common, objective and factual sciences.

Click here for more information on why this is science alignment is critically important.

Click here for how a meta-religion and meta-spirituality answers the question of what is the Religion 2.0 common am universal definition of Ultimate Reality/God.

Click here to learn more about how science and the meta-principles of Evolution 2.0 is used in Religion 2.0 to create set of moral principles or code of ethics for living.

3.) aligned with the principles of an open source discovering a subjectively explored personalizable spirituality and religion. (For those so inclined, meta-religion and meta-spirituality also offers a personal and subjective pathway for exploring existing religions from Religion 1.0 and Religion 1.5 to "mine" them for their most life-affirming wisdom, knowledge, experiences and processes. Click the personalizable spirituality and religion link for the full explanation of subjective personalizable spirituality and religion and how this works.) And, it is

4.) trans-denominational (includes yet transcends denominationalism, beyond denominations) (Trans-denominational and religion, spiritual process and spiritual/religious organization transcend and include ONLY the most life-affirming aspects of earlier forms of spirituality, religion, spiritual process and spiritual organization (traditional religion 1.0 and progressive religion 1.5,) without their worst practices ideas or pathologies while also integrating general scientific knowledge and the science grounded Evolution 2.o and its Universe Evolutionary Worldview. This new transcending and including quality and process creates its own new additive category/type of new non-conflicting and non-competitive secularized meta-spirituality and meta-religion beyond anything which we have previously known or considered a spirituality, religion, spiritual process, spiritual organization or the any of the various prior spiritual or Interfaith movements to be.)

This amazing, natural and new emergence in the evolution of religion and spirituality is truly important!

(Special Note: If you have not already read the specialized Religion 2.0 definitions of spirit, spirituality, universe and particularly Religion 2.0's definition of God that are necessary for use in a meta-religion meta-spirituality form, please do so before continuing. Without understanding these unique definitions as we use them, the expanded definition of meta-spirituality and meta-religion just below will not be fully clear. To see the concise definition of spirit and spirituality used within the Religion 2.0 as used on this website, click here.)

More about the Definition of a Meta-Spirituality and Meta-Religion

On the Universe Spirit website (and within the Religion 2.0 found on this website,) when we add the prefix meta to the word spirituality or religion and we use meta-spirituality or meta-religion to describe what Religion 2.0 is and does.

What is also specifically meant by meta-religion and meta spirituality:

a.) it strives to expand and evolve the meta-theories of spirituality, religion, spiritual process and spiritual and religious organization, which is the theoretical consideration of spirituality’s and religion's meta-properties such as the foundations, methods, spiritual processes, meta-principles, form and utility. (Meta-Religion and meta-spirituality are more of a continuous process rather than a fixed thing that strives to expand toward a theoretical yet unattainable completion of earlier forms of spirituality, spiritual process, spiritual or religious goals, religion and spiritual and religious organization.)

b.) is also creating what could be called a global Collaborative Commons that includes and transcends all current religions and spiritual organizations in a new common meta-space of exploration and sharing.

c.) it also transcends and includes the design, purposes and intent of the current Interfaith movements. And,

d.) it contains or implies the Religion 1.5 life-affirming progressive theological currents such as personal spirituality, evolutionary spirituality, integral spirituality, women's spirituality, process theology and creation spirituality are also all making significant contributions to the emergence of the new meta-spirituality and meta-religion.

For Whom is the Meta-Religion and Meta-Spirituality of Religion 2.0 Best Suited:

Individuals who will most likely appreciate the new structure and values within the new meta-religion and meta-spirituality are those individual's at or approaching Fower's Forth Stage of Faith as described by M Scot Peck. The Fourth Stage of Faith:

"Mystic, communal. Out of love and commitment to the whole, using their ability to transcend their backgrounds, culture and limitations with all others, reaching toward the notion of world community and the possibility of either transcending culture or -- depending on which way you want to use the words -- belonging to a planetary culture. They are religious, not looking for clear cut, proto type answers, but desiring to enter into the mystery of uncertainty, living in the unknown. The Christian mystic, as with all other mystics, Sufi and Zen alike, through contemplation, meditation, reflection and prayer, see the Christ, Gods indwelling Spirit or the Buddha nature, in all people, including all the Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and so forth, recognizing the connectedness of all humanity with God, never separating oneself from others with doctrine and scripture, recognizing that all scripture acts as fallible pointers of inspiration, unable to capture the essence of truth outside of both human perception and the linguistic straight jacket of language and articulation, that is, the words of fallible men who experienced the nature of God, that of their inner true self, and attempted to record their experience in human words, words constrained by the era of time they were written in that became compromised the moment they were penned and are further removed from objectivity when interpreted by us, fallible men and women who read them."

The Meta-Religion and Meta-Spirituality of Religion 2.0 should be considered a newly emerged 5th stage of faith that can best be reached by those who have reached the fourth stage of faith (above,) and who understand and appreciate science.

It is a new grand synthesis of all past religious evolution that sits firmly on the foundation of science while simultaneously integrating only the most life affirming aspects of our previous religions. It marvelously includes and transcends the myths and metaphors of previous religions without loosing any of the intrinsic wisdom in those myths and metaphors.

The Religion 2.0 trans-denominational meta-spirituality and meta-religion as found on this website holds that there are not just a few thousand religions in the world, but rather that there are as many unique religions as there are people who have decided to seek a greater personal understanding of the Ultimate Reality, awe and wonder, which unites us all. Religion 2.0 holds that increasingly, when someone is asked what religion they are, more people in the future will say that they have their own personal meta-religion and spirituality rather than saying that they are members of one of the mainstream traditional religions common today.

That being said concerning what will eventually become the fastest growing trend in religion today, we hold that there are both useful beauties to be embraced and pathologies to be avoided in all religions, spiritualities and denominations. Although Religion 2.0 can and does perform all of the core purposes, functions and goals of a traditional religion, we call what we do a meta-religion and meta-spirituality or Religion 2.0 because we wish to free ourselves from limiting associations with enforced traditional religious dogma, authoritarianism and religious abuses which more than 60% of the western world wants nothing more to do with and also --- because, what we are co-creating in alignment with progressive evolution (as described within Evolution 2.0 and its Universe Evolutionary Worldview,) is something vastly different than anything that has ever been seen before in the history of religion...

It is not our intent of our new meta-religion and meta-spirituality to create or state that there should be only one world religion, nor do we believe that such a thing is advisable. The meta-religion of religion 2.0 is different in that it is both omni-denominational and trans-denomination. It is non-competitive and non-conflicting with membership in any other religion or spirituality. It is something much different in that it was designed to serve all spiritual individuals in all religions as an evolutionary upgrade . It is not an effort to create a one world religion! It is beyond that...

We further hold in Religion 2.0 that Ultimate Reality appears to value and delight in the variety of spiritual/religious diversity. Spiritual diversity also serves as a vital communication and teaching tool for the many different personality types, individual psycho-social developmental levels and multitude of cultures.

We affirm the critical necessity for many unique spiritual approaches and without this essential diversity, spirituality would be like the sound of an orchestra playing a symphony with only one instrument. It would lack depth, harmony and balance.

We honor the many spiritualities and religions in the world like individual stories and chapters in a book by one great author. To the reader each separate story in the book still retains its own indispensable value and uniqueness and can be appreciated individually, or it can be valued as a compilation of stories that reflect an author's history and their ongoing relationship to their body of work.

We hold that it is vital that our spiritual organization continue to evolve from and with the ongoing evolution of humankind's collective spiritual wisdom as well as the transformative, direct spiritual experiences of our members grounded by the facts of science. We hope that when appropriate, other spiritual organizations and individuals will do the same.

Religion 2.0 as a trans-denominational meta-religion recognize that there is a mysterious, universal and transcendent core found within all of the world's authentic spiritual traditions. It is the Ultimate Reality that is the source of all reality and its universal qualities. Our meta-spirituality and meta-religion fully recognizes that all healthy and life-affirming iterations of the world's spiritual traditions contain within them diverse, effective and often complementary processes for achieving spiritual growth through the direct spiritual experience of Ultimate Reality. The differences in the plurality of processes is an essential and necessary result of our cultural, developmental, learning style and individual personality differences.

We hold that Ultimate Reality can be encountered, conceptualized, and responded to in numerous and diverse ways. These different perceptions of Ultimate Reality represent both different aspects of Ultimate Reality itself and/or perceptions conditioned by cultural, learning style and individual personality differences.

The most common forms of direct spiritual experience have been described as a numinous experience of the holy or a mystical experience of unity. These forms of direct spiritual experience have been found to be substantially the same in different cultures and religions. This lends credence to the perspective that many universal direct spiritual experiences underlie and interconnect all the major world religions and are also the expanding foundation of this meta-spirituality found within Evolution Spirituality.

Religion 2.0 and Evolution Spirituality as an open source meta-religion also holds that by assembling and sharing both the universal and diverse aspects of these processes of direct spiritual experience from both individual experience and the world's spiritual traditions that are grounded by today's sciences, the tools for supporting these experiences can be made more easily available and understood. Therefore, the process of an individual's own direct spiritual experience can be significantly enhanced.

We promote direct spiritual experience of Ultimate Reality in part to develop the spiritual awareness that it also creates the realization of the immanence of Ultimate Reality in all beings and things of the universe. From this awareness and realization all beings, life and nature becomes a sacred reflection and expression of Ultimate Reality. From this awareness and realization, one's relation to everything in the universe is transformed.

Finally, we hold that because of the infinite nature of Ultimate Reality, the theological systems of the world's spiritual traditions will always provide a unique, but partial view of this infinite reality. Therefore it is important to experience as many of these unique but partial views of Ultimate Reality to obtain the most complete, universal and complimentary experiences of Ultimate Reality from the world's great spiritualities and religions and the sciences. Our universe meta-religion and meta-spirituality is a support tool to help you and the religions of the world obtain, share and expand the most complete, universal and complimentary experiences of Ultimate Reality possible.

"When everyone on the planet has their own form of personal meta-religion we will finally have a new kind of peace on earth --- a peace finally freed from endless religious strife and conflict." Anonymous

The Paradoxes of the Trans-denominational and Omni-Denominational Meta-Spirituality and Meta-Religion of Religion 2.0

1.) The more people that practice meta-spirituality and meta-religion as described on this page the more that a new global Collaborative Commons emerges which both transcends and includes the best of our vast heritage of spiritual wisdom and religious traditions. This is in significant part because of how the principles of open source spirituality help optimize collaboration and the cross-fertilization of ideas between spiritual individuals and organizations --- in new paradoxical ways never envisioned or available to the Interfaith movement.

2.) Religion 2.0 as a new model of meta-spirituality and meta-religion does create a lot of paradoxes! Click here to review all these intriguing additional paradoxes.

Some of the Other Possible Goals of a Religion 2.0 Meta-Religion and Meta-Spirituality

To see some of the possible practical goals of a working meta-religion and meta-spirituality click here.

In Conclusion

The Religion 2.0 contains an open, personal and evolutionary form of trans-denominational meta-spirituality and meta-religion that may eventually prove to be more ideally suited and adaptable to the current life conditions for expanding both our personal and collective secular and spiritual growth. It also holds great promise for bringing humanity’s vast resources and the power of its religions together to help co-resolve life's most serious and threatening social, political and environmental challenges.

In this 21st century Internet empowered world the emergence of a new form of encompassing, but not overthrowing trans-denominational meta-spirituality and meta-religion like the Religion 2.0 may also proactively be the "just in time" needed super-tool to unite our efforts to co-create a just, equitable and sustainable prosperity for all --- a veritable "heaven on earth right now." (Creating heaven on earth now does not negate still also being open to creating for the potential "heaven" of the afterlife.) As you learn more about the Religion 2.0 form of trans-denominational meta-spirituality and meta-religion, it will be for you to judge if it does in fact have both the potential and the ability to deliver upon its exciting promise and possibilities --- possibilities like being able to support the creation of a spiritual global Collaborative Commons...

(Please note that individuals of a spiritual nature who call themselves, Evolutioneers, planetary citizens, universe citizens or members of the open source Religion 2.0 often hold, value and use the above ideas and principles of meta-religion and meta-spirituality. )

More About the Open Source Religion 2.0:

The open source Religion 2.0 meta-religion that is found on this website as a trans-denominational and omni-denominational meta-religion and meta personal spirituality that includes the most life-affirming aspects of all religions while it also transcends traditional religion as we currently know and define it. In fact, the Religion 2.0 found on this website may be the first true trans-denominational (beyond denominations,) and omni-denominational (all denominations,) meta-religion and meta-spirituality.

This is not a complete surprise because from early on in our history this was one of the original intended purposes --- to become a trans-denominational meta-spirituality and meta-religion to balance and integrate universe science and its principles of progressive evolution with ONLY the life-affirming wisdom from all of humanity's spiritual denominations without their pathologies.

Inspirations for Job One For Humanity Evolutioneers

Important as the struggle for existence has been and even still is, yet as far as the highest part of man’s nature is concerned there are other agencies more important. For the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or indirectly, much more through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, instruction, religion, etc., than through natural selection.